


Find A Light

by DontTouchMySeaweedBrain



Category: teen wolf - Fandom
Genre: FSA Week, Fuck Scerek Anon Week, FuckScerekAnonWeek, M/M, Multi, Princess Academy AU, Spoilers past 3A, Tags to be added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-07
Updated: 2015-10-07
Packaged: 2018-04-25 06:49:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4950688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DontTouchMySeaweedBrain/pseuds/DontTouchMySeaweedBrain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Scott doesn't understand why he's working so hard for Alison and the crown, when all he wants is Derek and home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Find A Light

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! This is my project for Day One of FSAW. A quick word about the AU before you go on!   
> So Princess Academy is a book by Shannon Hale (beautiful book, pls read), and the basic theme of the book is that Danland is a kingdom where princes chose their princesses out of provinces in their kingdoms. Mount Eskel is one such province, even if it is not expected to be. Mount Eskel is a tiny, yet valuable mountain, but it's villagers are kept unaware of it's value. The point is, girls are taken from Mount Eskel to be trained as Princesses, and that's the gist of what's happening here. On Mount Eskel, they mine for linder, a valuable stone, in a quarry. Most of the difficult jobs are getting stone out, etc, but stone braking is where the stone is divided. Two people hold down the stone and another splits it down the middle. It can be very dangerous for the middle person. That's all you need to know for now, I think. Feel free to comment with any questions and I'll be with you ASAP.

His body dangles off the ledge, weighless in the air but so, impossibly heavy to the hand that is clinging to the rocks. He looks down and there are miles to go. He’s almost scared. I’m never stone breaking again, he thinks as Derek Hale pulls him up.

“You okay, McCall?” He asked, steady and calm, like he did this every day.

“All good. Thanks, Der—Hale.” Scott looked down as he dropped Derek’s hand.

“No problem. Maybe wait until Stilinski has a decent hold until you strike next time.” It’s not quite a smile, but it’s not a grimace either, so that’s progress.

“It’s not Stiles’ fault, I shoulda been watching.” His hand, the one Derek caught, goes to the back of his neck.

“Scott? Scott! Jeez, are you okay?” Stiles skids to a stop next to Derek, arms wheeling. “I didn’t mean to, I just tripped, and—”

“It’s fine, I’m fine, Stiles.” Both men in front of him raise eyebrows. “I am. Come on, let’s get back to work. Thanks again, D—Hale.” He grabs Stiles’ arm and pulls him back to the quarry. A small crowd has gathered at the result of Scott’s fall, and he blushes. His mom smiles at him from her position at the well.

“You can call me Derek.” He hears from behind him, and he turns briefly to grin back.

“Derek.”

He ducks his head as Stiles grips back at him, “Dude.”

“ _I know._ ”

“But he’s—”

“Yeah.”

“That’s my boy.”

“Let’s get back to work.”

“Fine, but you’re not breaking again. We’ll make Isaac do it.”

“Sti—” His voice is cut off by horses and horns from all around them. Scott jumps back, almost bumping right into Derek, who has run up to them at the sound. They come in a gleaming, polished formation, quick and organized unlike anything developed by the traders.

A blonde woman on the back of a white stallion, eyes blazing and cold, began to speak. “Citizens of Beacon Hills, I am the Chief Delegate of California, Kathryn Argent, and I am here to inform you of a contest.” Her voice was arrogant; she was above the mountain people and she knew it.

“Your _residence_ is the home of the new King of California. As is tradition, we strengthen our kingdom’s bonds by choosing leaders from a province and having the heir choose a suitor.” Murmurs broke out amongst the crowd. It was tradition, yes, but there was no way that the citizens of California would stand for someone from the outskirts as a leader.

Kathryn continued, after sending out a glare that silenced the crowd. “Allison Argent is the princess, and she will be choosing one of Beacon Hills’ boys. All young men between the ages of fifteen and seventeen are required to come forward in the next half hour, or you will be taken forcibly. A registry has been compiled and everyone will come forward. Boys who are selected will be taken and trained, as you are considerably uniformed on royal protocol, for several months before the princess chooses her husband. You have thirty minutes to come forward.” She dismounted, taking her guards down with her.

But Derek pushed through them, standing tall over the chief delegate. “You can’t take them. There’s no way we’ll get enough linder without them here. We need our boys. Your traders make a living. Leave them be and everyone wins.” Derek is strong, powerful, and downright scary. But Kathryn is strong, too.

“Believe me, chief. I don’t want a leader from Beacon Hills any more than you want to give your boys up. But it’s not my decision, and it’s not yours either.” She gestures roughly, and the guards pull him back. He tenses, and the trees with him. Parents are ready to fight for their children, and children for their future.

“Derek!” Scott cries, ignoring Stiles’ grasping hands. Heads turn, and he faintly hears Melissa’s cal for him to leave well enough alone, but he moves forwards anyway. The crowd parts before him but the guards don’t. “It’s okay. It’s okay, we have time to talk. To come to a decision.” He looks up at the delegate. “You said the selected.”

She looks at him like he’s less than nothing, but she answers him. “Yes. We’re not taking all of your boys.” She sneers at Derek. He tenses further, but doesn’t say anything. “We only need seven boys. And six of them you’ll get back. Eventually.” There’s something in her smile that makes Scott nervous, but all he knows is that they have weapons and training, so if it comes to a fight, Beacon Hills will lose.

“Derek,” He says slowly. “We can make this work.” Derek shakes off the grip of the guards as he moves back.

“I’m the temporary leader of this community while Talia takes care of an outside influence,” he says, outrage and strain clear in his voice. “I care for the hundred of us who work here. You’re asking to take our protogees for an undetermined amount of time. We can’t lose anyone now, it’s almost time for harvest.” He moves to stand protectively in front of Scott, and it would feel good if it weren’t for the frankly terrible situation they were in. “Please don’t take them.”

Kathryn smiles, almost like she’s enjoying it. Scott thinks she must be. “We can discuss the time constraints after the boys have been selected. You really don’t get much of a say here. The Hales aren’t official leader of Beacon Hills. Hell, Beacon Hills doesn't even have a delegate. You don’t control what happens here. I’m taking seven boys, and any terms I set, you must agree to.”

Scott can feel Derek’s body vibrating, and he puts a hand on the older man’s shoulder. “Derek, it’s okay. She’s right, there’s nothing we can do but minimize the damage.”

Derek swallows and nods, but it looks painful. “In a half hour, you will have all of the males between ages of fifteen and seventeen summers.”

She grins back devilishly. “Twenty-nine minutes.”

* * *

She calls out names one by one, ordering them about in groups by age. “Isaac Lahey, Greenberg Finstock, Levi Catherson, Jackson Whittemore, Jacob Baker, Kirsh Hollis, Danny Māhealani, Scott McCall, Geinum Stilinski, and Ethan and Aiden Deucalion. That’s everyone from these ages?” She asks the man with the trumpets, the heralder, Scott thinks.

“It is.” Derek’s voice comes from behind them.

She looks over them, and it’s like she’s digging into him.

“You. Scott, come here.” He flinches and then makes his way forward. He does his best not to look at the quiet fury in Derek’s expression, so different from the smile he’d gotten just an hour before.

She takes his face in her hand, nails digging into his jaw. She tilts it from side to side, and he doesn’t break eye contact somehow.

“You. You’re definitely going.” It’s almost a laugh.

“Stiles. Jackson, Danny. Isaac. Aiden. Ethan.”

She calls them one by one, and they all file up behind Scott.

She gets back on her horse, and lifts one arm like she’s displaying all of them.

“People of Beacon Hills. These seven boys are your hope for the future. One of them will be the next king of California.” Her eyes glitter with malice. “The rules are simple. They will be kept in an Academy for at least a year, where they will train and learn how to be royalty. How to run a kingdom. They will have one day, every other week to come home and be with their families. Every twelve weeks, they will have a week to come home and spend with their families.” She looked down at the seven before her and grinned darkly. “You boys will be collected three nights from tonight, after the academy has been prepared. Thank you for your cooperation.”

She exited with a sneer and some fanfare, and she left fire in her wake.

* * *

 

“Mom?” He had been in a state of shock since this afternoon.

“Yeah, baby?” So had she.

“I don’t wanna go.” He didn’t.

“I know.”

“I don’t want to leave.” He really didn’t.

“I know.”

“I’m doing the same thing dad did.” He was.

“What?” Even if she didn’t think so. But she was warm and understanding, and he kept talking.

“I’m leaving to go and do something for California. Just like he did.”

“Except you don’t have a choice.”

“There’s always a choice.”

“Not this time, Scott. They’ll take you no matter what.”

“I just don’t want to be like him.”

“Scott, listen to me. You are nothing like your father. It’s gonna be okay.”

Then there was silence. It was quiet enough that he almost believed her.

* * *

He had never noticed how quiet the quarry was at night, how the moonlight reflected off the linder. It was peaceful. A nice memory for his last night.

At least until a string of curses erupted from Derek Hale.

“Rough night?” He asked, and Derek turned sharply.

“You could say that.” He relaxed, moving gracefully to join Scott.

“I’m sorry about all this.” He said mournfully. “Helluva mess to get on your first day.”

“That’s not even the worst part.” Derek scoffed.

“What, do you wish it were you?”

“No, I just wish it weren’t…”

“What?”

“I wish it weren’t you, Scott.”

He takes a deep breath, “Derek—”

“No. I’m gonna do this right. I should have done it a long time ago. I like you Scott. And I don’t want you to leave. I know you have to, and if you want to go, I wouldn’t blame you. I just needed you to know.” Hands ruffle through messy black hair before coming down to rest nervously in Derek’s lap.

Scott takes them in his. “I like you, too.” And Derek grins.

* * *

“You know if I could change this I would.”

“Even if it weren’t for me, I know you’d try.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed! You should expect an update either Thursday or Tuesday. My tumblr is donttouchmyseaweedbrain. This has been a Fuck Scerek Anon Week productions.


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